1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for adhering three-dimensional bits, fragments, chunks, or morsels to a substrate and more particularly, to a method for adhering large three dimensional food bits to a snack food substrate whereby the large bits are substantially adhered to the substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
Food particulates are often added to foods, especially snack foods. Tortilla chips, pretzels, crackers, popcorn, and numerous other foodstuffs often have seasonings applied to them during processing. Seasonings used, usually in a powdered form, have included salt, cheese, chili, garlic, Cajun spice, ranch, sour cream and onion, among many others. However, there is often an undesirable accumulation of seasoning on the sidewalls and bottom of the snack food bag with the result that the consumer has less than the desired complement of topping thereon. The separation occurs because of insufficient adhesion of the seasoning to the chip. The problem of separation increases with the size and weight of the individual particles.
One way this problem has been approached in the past was by using oil as an adhesive to adhere particulate seasonings to a base or substrate. For example U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,102 B2, issued to Kazemzadeh, discloses a seasoning bit that, following extrusion and cooking is immersed into an oil and seasoning slurry at an elevated temperature. The product is then dry-coated with seasonings or sprayed with hot or room temperature oils and fats either carrying seasonings or the seasonings are applied as dusting on the surface while the oil and fats are used to adhere the seasoning to the surface. One drawback to using only oil, however, is that the adhesive strength of traditional oil mixes are not strong enough to adhere large three-dimensional bits to a substrate surface. In certain applications, large three-dimensional bits are desirable because they enable packaged snack chips to emulate another topped product including, but not limited to a pizza with toppings, a nacho chip, or a tostada.
Another prior art composition used to adhere particulate to a food product is U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,290 issued to Blackenstock et al which discloses using a coating agent comprised of dry corn syrup solids to adhere small particle sizes of food toppings to a substrate. The Blackenstock patent discloses a particle size of the food topping as being 12-100 mesh, which corresponds to a particle size range of 0.150 to 1.68 millimeters (0.0059 to 0.0661 inches). Again, these are relatively small particle sizes that are being adhered to a substrate. The adhesive is not strong enough to adhere a substantial amount of larger three-dimensional particles to the chip.
U.S. Patent Application 2002/0187220 A1 discloses an edible particulate adhesive comprising maltodextrin, an edible surfactant, a solvent, a polysaccharide, and a modified starch. The invention, however, is clearly aimed at very small particulate adhesion. The invention indicates the preferred particle size is less than 650 micrometers. Thus, this invention also fails to adhere relatively large bits to a chip.
Another prior art composition used to adhere flavorings to a foodstuff is illustrated by European Patent EP 0 815 741 A2 which discloses a hot melt composition comprising a starch, such as corn syrup, maltodextrin, or an amylase-treated starch, and a plasticizer, such as a polyol or a polyacetic acid. Like the other inventions, this invention was also designed to adhere powdery-type particulate additives to foodstuffs such as salt, sugar, cheese powder, and ranch seasonings. Like other inventions in the prior art, it also fails to adhere relatively large bits to chips.
One prior art approach to adhere large food flavorings and spices was to put the flavorings on an unbaked cracker. Thus, cheese flavorings and other spices were then baked into the dough. This approach, however, cannot be used when it is desirable to adhere particles to a substantially cooked snack piece, such as a tortilla chip, immediately prior to the addition of seasoning.
Consequently a need exists for a method to adhere large particulate flavoring bits, fragments, chunks, or morsels to a food substrate. The method should allow a snack food to demonstrate the characteristic look, texture, and taste of an emulated topped food product, yet be highly resistant to separation. The method should be adaptable to a product line wherein the addition of the large particles occurs at a step after substantial cooking of the underlying food substrate.